Editorial: We could get used to this

Monday

Finally. Now that the Red Sox have brought home a championship for the first time since 2004 we can all exhale.

Finally. Now that the Red Sox have brought home a championship for the first time since 2004 we can all exhale.

With the Patriots having gone through a similar dry spell, there are 3-year-olds who had to be wondering if any local professional team would ever win one in their lifetime.

We joke, of course, because we can. World championships can make one giddy and with the Red Sox having swept to their second World Series out of the last four, we are embarking on the kind of sports era other cities can only dream about.

Few things galvanize a region like a successful sports team and in New England right now, there is nothing to complain about with our embarrassment of riches, contrary to just about every year in the 20th century.

And 30,000 people just got free furniture from Jordan's Furniture to boot.

With the Red Sox again the reigning world champions, all references to "1918" are dead forever.

The Patriots are a juggernaut like nothing the NFL has ever seen before and head into a battle of the unbeatens with Indianapolis on Sunday with a record of 8-0; and they are prohibitive favorites to once again win the Super Bowl.

The Eagles of Boston College are flying high, ranked second in the country and in control of their own destiny for a shot at the national championship with a true Heisman candidate at quarterback in Matt Ryan. (And how about them Curry College Colonels and their 9-0 record?)

The Celtics, the only regular bright spot from the 1950s through the 1980s, are set to climb atop the NBA once again.

The Revolution are in the playoffs and even the Bruins have a winning record 10 games into the season.

But that is all for the future. Today is for the Sox and the future for them is so bright, they've got to wear shades.

The kids brought some spark. Is there a better story than Jon Lester, just 14 months removed from his diagnosis of cancer, getting the win in the
clincher?

And what about the straw that will stir the drink for the next decade or so, phenom Jacoby Ellsbury? This was his coming out party and he did it at the speed of sound.

And next year, other youngsters such as Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia and local boy Manny Delcarmen will join a more experienced Daisuke Matsuzaka and arguably the best pitcher in the major leagues, Josh Beckett, a grizzled veteran at 27, to keep the team as top-flight contenders.

Let's hope the front office also does the right thing with third baseman Mike Lowell, a quiet, classy, gritty professional whose own recovery from cancer to become Series MVP is a feel-good story on par with Lester.

There's a lot to like about these Red Sox and there's a lot to like about being a Boston sports fan in 2007. Like 1986, the good times will surely come to an end someday but until they do, we are the Hub of the Sports Universe. Let's cherish these times before they become the good old days.